In a time of budget talks, it seems important that a few things are brought forth for public examination and understanding.  Perhaps it is best presented in terms of questions/comments:

1)  As WMS students are now embedded in 3 existing schools, who is receiving the FTE for these students?  It would stand to reason that the host schools are [or will be] the recipients of [some portion of] these monies.  Therefore, although WMS students are guests in their host schools, they are in fact paying their way, in some fashion or another [e.g. new technology, books, furniture, etc].  As negotiations for replacement materials for WMS students and faculty continue to play out for the rest of this school year, it is important to remember that if WMS is to reopen in the future, materials that are purchased for WMS need to be clearly identified as such. Otherwise, when the decision to reopen WMS returns to the table, talks of the expenses to re-outfit a new building need to reflect the materials and resources ALREADY purchased or embedded within current host schools. In other words, to imply that ALL things will necessarily have to be purchased would not be entirely accurate. 

2) In light of this idea, it seems it would be wise for the BSD to keep highly accurate records beginning now and extending to the reopening of WMS, of donated monies, supplies, purchased items from insurance monies, etc., in order to facilitate transparent and accurate dissemination of information and resource. The reason this issue is being raised is that community folks and businesses who have donated money or items are beginning to ask questions as to who and where these items are being given.  If for example, people buy books or supplies to replace teacher classroom collections, they expect to see/hear that their donations have found their intended homes. 

Without question, these extraordinary times are challenging.  But if plans to integrate and assimilate are already being acted upon in terms of money and resource [e.g. resource is already being embedded in some host schools], the discussions get murky really fast. If this situation was facing any other school in the district, surely they would have similar concerns.  It is not only about identity, but as has been demonstrated in recent talks, it is about resource.  WMS represents resource in many ways: student FTE, allocations for improved technology/curriculum, professional development funds, talented staff and resource folks, to name a few. The challenge is how to respectfully ensure that the host schools receive their fair due—but that ultimately, the resources represented by WMS are cataloged or kept track of in such a way so as to be transferred to a new WMS at a future date.

Again, if a task-force of stakeholders can commence soon, many of these sticky issues can be understood and explained to the larger community in tangible ways.  Issues of resource in such challenging economic times will continue to be an issue of discussion and concern; transparency is critical for public confidence and understanding.